The Challenge Karate Club at Purdue University

History

Challenge Karate Club at Purdue University (CKCPU) is a registered Purdue Student Organization. It was established in August of 1996, and became an official Club Sport on July 1st, 1998.

Location

We train in the second floor gymnasium of the Lambert Field House (corner of Stadium and Northwestern), located on the West Lafayette campus of Purdue University .

Training

Training is open to people whether or not they are affiliated with Purdue University. Beginning classes are free of charge. All ages are welcome, beginning with the mid-teens. New beginning classes starts every seven weeks. See our training schedule below.

Training Schedule for SPRING 2007

Monday  6:45 - 8:00 pm Beg/Int Kumite (Sparring)
Monday 8:00 - 9:15 pm Adv. Kumite (Sparring)
Tuesday 6:45 - 8:00 pm Beginning Cycle
Tuesday 8:00 - 9:15 pm Kihon (Basics)
Thursday 6:45 - 8:00 pm Beginning Cycle
Thursday 8:00 - 9:15 pm Kata (Forms)
Friday 7:00 - 9:00 pm One-on-one &
Tournament prep

How much does it cost?

Beginning classes are free of charge. Examination fees range from $10 to $25, and are used to offset the transportation costs of Black Belt guest examiners. For club members who choose to participate in tournaments and other events, costs usually include expenses for meals, registraion fees, and sometimes lodging. The club covers transportation costs, and for expensive events subsidizes the registration fee with money provided by our fund-raising projects. Karate gis (training uniform) are not required, although they may be purchased for the wholesale price of $27.50 and up. None of the club's officers or the instructors receive any payments for their services.

Members who have passed a ranking exam are asked to pay dues of $15 per semester ($20 for colored belts). In order to keep our dues low we have a couple of fund-raising activities all members are expected to participate in.

The club also uses its funds to provide exceptional training opportunities under distinguished outside instructors, including Sensei Nishiyama and Sensei Milevsky.

Manners in the dojo

Manners are very important in karate. They help to keep the mind and body focused, and to maintain an appropriate level of respect towards the dojo, the training and all the other members of the club.

You are expected to follow these rules:

  1. Treat the dojo and your training partners with respect.
  2. Bow when entering or leaving the dojo.
  3. Refer to the instructor as "sensei", and your seniors as "sempai."
  4. Never question your seniors.
  5. Juniors take care of seniors before themselves in and outside the dojo.
  6. Within the dojo, do not walk: Run.
  7. Keep yourself and your clothing clean.
  8. No jewelry may be worn while training.
  9. Warm up before class, so be early.
  10. If you need to leave early:
    1. Tell sensei before the class starts.
    2. Raise your hand when you need to leave so that the sensei acknowledges your request to leave.
    3. Bow to the sensei, step to the back of class and do your "mokuso."
    4. When you are calm, stand up and bow off the training floor.
  11. If you come in late:
    1. Warm up off the training floor.
    2. Step to the back of the training floor and do your "mokuso".
    3. Run to the junior end of the training line and begin training.
  12. In everything you do be POSITIVE, POSITIVE, POSITIVE!

Terms for training

A number of terms in Japanese are used in training. They are usually learned by means of continuous repetition during training, but a list of the most common terms is available for reference.

Our instructor

Sensei Charles Meyer grew up in the Mississippi Delta, and transferred to Purdue in 1984, where he is employed at the USDA National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory. He received his B.S, in mathematics and his MSE in guidance/counseling from Delta State University, and has pursued post graduate work in systems and industrial engineering at both University of Arizona and Purdue. He received his Shodan (1st degree black belt) in March 2002 from Sensei Martinez, founder of the Purdue club. In a previous lifetime Charles trained under Jerry Katawar in Greenville, MS, and tested under Mr. Takayuki Mikami, 8th degree black belt, Chief Instructor of the ASKF and the first certified instructor sent overseas by the Japan Karate Association (JKA). Within the last decade Charles has trained under Sensei Martinez and tested under her and Sensei Johnson. He can be contacted by email at meyerc@ecn.purdue.edu.

Our founder

Jacqueline M. Martinez is the founder of the CKCPU, and was the chief instructor until July of 2000. She holds a Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Communication from Southern Illinois University (1992).

Dr. Martinez has been training in Shotokan Karate for over 20 years and currently holds the rank of sandan (3rd degree black belt). Her current rank is certified by the Challenge Foundation. In addition, she received the rank of nidan (2nd degree black belt) in 1981 from Hidetaka Nishiyama sensei of the Japan Karate Association. Dr. Martinez received her training from Tony Johnson sensei of the West Valley Karate Club (now the Challenge Karate Club) in Los Angeles.

On April 12, 2000, Sensei Martinez received the Outstanding Advisor of the Year Award, presented by the Office of the Dean of Students at Purdue. The award was presented at the Student Organization Advisor Recognition Banquet.

Our officers

The current officers of the CKCPU are:

Contacting us

For questions related to Karate training, please contact meyerc@ecn.purdue.edu.

For questions or comments about these web pages, please contact the club's webmaster at shotokan@expert.cc.purdue.edu.

Our constitution

You can read the CKCPU Constitution.

Last modified: Wednesday, 14-Feb-2007 01:16:53 UTC by shotokan@expert.cc.purdue.edu